Parking assistance device

Abstract

A parking assistance device includes: an information acquiring unit configured to acquire surrounding condition information from a sensor; a parking area determining unit configured to determine, in a front position or in an approach route reaching the front position, whether a target parking area is a specific parking area; a turn-around area specifying unit configured to specify turn-around areas in an area containing the approach route using the surrounding condition information, in response to the target parking area being determined as the specific parking area; an operation assisting unit configured to assist a first operation as an operation of a vehicle for reaching the turn-around area; and a parking assisting unit configured to assist a reversing operation of the vehicle using the turn-around area and parks the vehicle having changed in the direction into the target parking area.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A parking assistance device for assisting parking of a vehicle comprising:  
       an information acquiring unit configured to acquire surrounding condition information indicating a surrounding condition of the vehicle from a sensor that is mounted to the vehicle to detect the surrounding condition;  
       a parking area determining unit configured to determine, in a front position of the parking area or in an approach route reaching the front position, whether a target parking area that is a parking area to serve as a parking target of the vehicle is a specific parking area that is a parking area positioned in an environment where the vehicle cannot perform a forward operation of equal to or more than a predetermined threshold distance needed as a part of a parking operation in a state in which the vehicle is positioned in the front position; 
       a turn-around area specifying unit configured to specify a turn-around area that is a free area available for performing a reversing operation of changing a direction of the vehicle, in an area containing the approach route, using the surrounding condition information, in response to the target parking area being determined as the specific parking area; 
       an operation assisting unit configured to assist a first operation as an operation of the vehicle for reaching the turn-around area; and  
       a parking assisting unit configured to assist the reversing operation of the vehicle using the turn-around area and parks the vehicle having changed in the direction into the target parking area. 
     
     
         2 2 The parking assistance device according to  claim 1 , further comprising 
       an information storing unit configured to store at least one of track information indicating a track of movement of the vehicle and operation history information of an actuator which causes an operation of the vehicle,  
       wherein the operation assisting unit moves the vehicle to a position where the turn-around area can be used along the approach route, in the first operation, using at least one of the track information and the operation history information. 
     
     
         3 . The parking assistance device according to  claim 1 ,  
       wherein the operation assisting unit assists the first operation to the turn-around area closest from a current position of the vehicle, in response to a plurality of the turn-around areas being specified in the area containing the approach route by the turn-around area specifying unit. 
     
     
         4 . The parking assistance device according to  claim 2 ,  
       wherein the operation assisting unit assists the first operation to the turn-around area closest from a current position of the vehicle, in response to a plurality of the turn-around areas being specified in the area containing the approach route by the turn-around area specifying unit. 
     
     
         5 . The parking assistance device according to  claim 1 , further comprising:  
       a parking operation time estimating unit configured to estimate a parking operation time as a time obtained by summing a time needed for the first operation, a time needed for the reversing operation, and a time needed for parking the subject vehicle having changed in the direction into the target parking area, wherein  
       the parking operation time estimating unit estimates the parking operation time for each of the turn-around areas, in response to a plurality of the turn-around areas being specified in the area containing the approach route by the turn-around area specifying unit, and  
       the operation assisting unit assists the first operation to the turn-around area corresponding to the shortest parking operation time, among a plurality of the turn-around areas, in response to a plurality of the turn-around areas being specified in the area containing the approach route by the turn-around area specifying unit. 
     
     
         6 . The parking assistance device according to  claim 2 , further comprising:  
       a parking operation time estimating unit configured to estimate a parking operation time as a time obtained by summing a time needed for the first operation, a time needed for the reversing operation, and a time needed for parking the subject vehicle having changed in the direction into the target parking area, wherein  
       the parking operation time estimating unit estimates the parking operation time for each of the turn-around areas, in response to a plurality of the turn-around areas being specified in the area containing the approach route by the turn-around area specifying unit, and  
       the operation assisting unit assists the first operation to the turn-around area corresponding to the shortest parking operation time, among a plurality of the turn-around areas, in response to a plurality of the turn-around areas being specified in the area containing the approach route by the turn-around area specifying unit. 
     
     
         7 . A program product comprising:  
       a non-transitory computer-readable medium;  
       instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a parking assistance method for assisting parking of a vehicle, the parking assistance method comprising: 
 acquiring surrounding condition information indicating a surrounding condition of the vehicle from a sensor that is mounted to the vehicle to detect the surrounding condition; 
 determining, in a front position of the parking area or in an approach route reaching the front position, whether a target parking area that is a parking area to serve as a parking target of the vehicle is a specific parking area that is a parking area positioned in an environment where the vehicle cannot perform a forward operation of equal to or more than a predetermined threshold distance needed as a part of a parking operation in a state in which the vehicle is positioned in the front position;  
 specifying a turn-around area that is a free area available for performing a reversing operation of changing a direction of the vehicle, in an area containing the approach route, using the surrounding condition information, in response to the target parking area being determined as the specific parking area;  
 assisting a first operation as an operation of the vehicle for reaching the turn-around area; and  
 assisting the reversing operation of the vehicle using the turn-around area and parks the vehicle having changed in the direction into the target parking area. 
 
     
     
         8 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a parking assistance method for assisting parking of a vehicle, the parking assistance method comprising:  
       acquiring surrounding condition information indicating a surrounding condition of the vehicle from a sensor that is mounted to the vehicle to detect the surrounding condition; 
       determining, in a front position of the parking area or in an approach route reaching the front position, whether a target parking area that is a parking area to serve as a parking target of the vehicle is a specific parking area that is a parking area positioned in an environment where the vehicle cannot perform a forward operation of equal to or more than a predetermined threshold distance needed as a part of a parking operation in a state in which the vehicle is positioned in the front position; 
       specifying a turn-around area that is a free area available for performing a reversing operation of changing a direction of the vehicle, in an area containing the approach route, using the surrounding condition information, in response to the target parking area being determined as the specific parking area;  
       assisting a first operation as an operation of the vehicle for reaching the turn-around area; and  
       assisting the reversing operation of the vehicle using the turn-around area and parks the vehicle having changed in the direction into the target parking area.